Hamilton on top as Jerez test ends

Lewis Hamilton sets the quickest time for McLaren on the final day of the first pre-season F1 test at Jerez

Lewis Hamilton ensured that McLaren ended the first of two pre-season F1 tests at Jerez on top of the pile with the quickest time on the final day.

Hamilton posted a quickest time of 1min 19.538secs late on on the final day, to beat the marker set by Jaime Alguersuari earlier in the week having earlier completed a number of longer runs with the car as conditions at the circuit improved following earlier rain.

Hamilton's best time saw him know Adrian Sutil from the top after the German had looked like putting Force India at the head of the times on the final day of its maiden test with the VJM03.

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Described on Force India's Twitter feed from the circuit as being the master of understatement for referring to his lap as 'quite pleasant', Sutil also turned his lap later in the day when a number of drivers were able to complete some meaningful running with the circuit at its best.

Rubens Barrichello was third quickest for Williams although the Brazilian saw his time on track brought to an early end by a gearbox issue, while Robert Kubica was fourth for Renault as he completed a series on long runs and set-up work on the R30.

Michael Schumacher was fifth quickest for Mercedes having waiting until a dry line emerged before he headed out for any meaningful running, while Sebastian Vettel concluded his first test in the new Red Bull RB6 with the sixth fastest lap - despite losing three hours of running with a fuel pump failure.

Felipe Massa was eight for Ferrari ahead of Pedro de la Rosa's Sauber while there was reason to cheer for Virgin Racing as Lucas di Grassi was finally able to put some laps on the new VR-01 after issues earlier in the week - managing 63 laps in total and beating Alguersuari's Toro Rosso on the times.